Electronic Devices Having Peripheral Display Regions

ABSTRACT

An electronic device may be provided with a display. The display may be mounted in a housing. Electronic components may be mounted in an interior region of the device. The display may have an array of pixels configured to display an image. A border region such as a ring-shaped border may run along the outermost peripheral edge of the array of pixels. The display may be covered by a transparent display cover layer. The transparent display cover layer may have opposing inner and outer surfaces. The inner surface may face the interior region of the device. A laser-marked light-scattering structure may be embedded within an interior portion of the display cover layer between the inner and outer surfaces. The light-scattering structure may be located in the border region and may be illuminated by a light-emitting device.

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.16/513,270, filed Jul. 16, 2019, which is hereby incorporated byreference herein in its entirety.

FIELD

This relates generally to electronic devices, and, more particularly, toelectronic devices with displays.

BACKGROUND

Electronic devices such as cellular telephones, tablet computers, andother electronic equipment may include displays for presenting images toa user.

If care is not taken, electronic devices with displays may not have adesired appearance or may be difficult to use satisfactorily. Forexample, it may be difficult to efficiently use displays to presentcertain visual information to a user.

SUMMARY

An electronic device may be provided with a display. The display may bemounted in a housing. Electronic components may be mounted in aninterior region of the device. The display may have an array of pixelsconfigured to display an image. A border region such as a ring-shapedborder may run along the outermost peripheral edge of the array ofpixels and may be free of image-producing pixels.

In order to provide a user with supplemental visual information in theborder region, illuminated visual elements may be provided in theborder. These visual elements can be controlled separately from theimage displayed using the array of pixels.

The display may be covered by a transparent display cover layer. Thetransparent display cover layer may have opposing inner and outersurfaces. The inner surface may face the interior region of the device.A laser-marked light-scattering structure associated with a visualelement such as an icon or other visual element may be embedded withinan interior portion of the display cover layer between the inner andouter surfaces. The central portion of the display cover layer mayoverlap the pixel array, so that the image on the pixels array may beviewed through the display cover layer. The light-scattering structuremay be located in the border region and may be illuminated by alight-emitting device separate from the array of pixels. In someconfigurations, an opaque coating layer may be located beneath thelight-scattering structure to help hide the light-scattering structurefrom view in the absence of light from the light-emitting device.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a top view of an illustrative electronic device in accordancewith an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an illustrative electronic device inaccordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional side view of portion of a display andinternal components in an illustrative electronic device in accordancewith an embodiment.

FIGS. 4 and 5 are cross-sectional side views of illustrative edgeportions of a display layer for an electronic device in accordance withan embodiment.

FIGS. 6, 7, and 8 are plan views of portions of illustrative electronicdevices in accordance with embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

An electronic device may be provided with a display. The display mayhave an array of pixels that forms an active area of the display inwhich an image is displayed. A transparent display cover layer mayoverlap the array of pixels to protect the pixels from damage. Lasermarking techniques or other processing techniques may be used to createlight-scattering structures within the display cover layer. For example,a hazy area may be formed along a border region of the display coverlayer that runs along the outer peripheral edge of the active area.During operation, the pixels display an image on the display in theactive area. When desired to produce visual output using the borderregion, a light-emitting device may illuminate the light-scatteringstructures in the border region. The light-emitting device can beoperated independently from the pixels in the active area that aredisplaying the image.

The light-scattering structures in the border region may be patterned toform text (e.g. alphanumeric characters such as number and/or letters),symbols, graphics (e.g., an icon), abstract elements, or any othersuitable visual elements. By placing the light-scattering structures inthe border region, the visual elements associated with thelight-scattering structures do not overlap the pixels in the activearea. This allows the visual elements to be displayed at the same timeas an image in the active area or to be displayed separately (e.g., whenthe image is not present because the pixels in the active area are alloff).

A top view of an illustrative electronic device with a display is shownin FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 1, device 10 may have a display such asdisplay 14 mounted in housing 12. Housing 12, which may sometimes bereferred to as an enclosure or case, may be formed of plastic, glass,ceramics, fiber composites, metal (e.g., stainless steel, aluminum,titanium, gold, etc.), other suitable materials, or a combination of anytwo or more of these materials. Housing 12 may be formed using a unibodyconfiguration in which some or all of housing 12 is machined or moldedas a single structure or may be formed using multiple structures (e.g.,an internal frame structure, one or more structures that form exteriorhousing surfaces, etc.). Display 14 may have a rectangular outline(e.g., a square outline with rounded corners as shown in FIG. 1), mayhave a circular outline, or may have other suitable shapes.

If desired, a band (strap) such as band 30 or other external structuresmay be coupled to housing 12 (e.g., using spring bars, magnets, threadedfasteners, clips, or other coupling structures). Band 30 may be awristband with a clasp such as clasp 32 that is configured to allowdevice 10 to be worn by a user. Band 30 may be formed from metal,fabric, natural materials such as leather, polymer, or other materials.Clasp 32 may be a magnetic clasp, a mechanical clasp, or other suitableclasp. Device 10 may be a wristwatch that is worn on a user's wrist orother wearable device. If desired, device 10 may be a cellulartelephone, tablet computer, desktop computer, display device, or othersuitable equipment including a display. The use of display 14 in awearable portable device such as a wristwatch device is sometimesdescribed herein as an example.

Display 14 may be a liquid crystal display, an organic light-emittingdiode display having an array of thin-film organic light-emitting diodepixels on a flexible substrate, or a display based on other displaytechnologies (e.g., an electrophoretic display, a display having anarray of crystalline semiconductor light-emitting diodes on a flexiblesubstrate, etc.). Display 14 may be a touch screen display thatincorporates a layer of conductive capacitive touch sensor electrodes orother touch sensor components (e.g., resistive touch sensor components,acoustic touch sensor components, force-based touch sensor components,light-based touch sensor components, etc.) or may be a display that isnot touch-sensitive. Touch sensor structures such as capacitive touchsensor electrodes may be formed as part of a thin-film organiclight-emitting diode display panel or other pixel array for display 14or may be formed using a separate touch sensor panel that overlap adisplay panel.

Display 14 may include one or more layers of transparent protectivematerial. For example, the outermost layer of display 14, which maysometimes be referred to as a display cover layer, may be formed from ahard transparent material such as glass, rigid polymer, sapphire orother crystalline material, or other clear material to help protectdisplay 14 from damage.

A schematic diagram of electronic device 10 is shown in FIG. 1. Device10 may include control circuitry 20. Control circuitry 20 may includestorage and processing circuitry for supporting the operation of device10. The storage and processing circuitry may include storage such asnonvolatile memory (e.g., flash memory or otherelectrically-programmable-read-only memory configured to form a solidstate drive), volatile memory (e.g., static or dynamicrandom-access-memory), etc. Processing circuitry in control circuitry 20may be used to gather input from sensors and other input devices and maybe used to control output devices. The processing circuitry may be basedon one or more microprocessors, microcontrollers, digital signalprocessors, baseband processors and other wireless communicationscircuits, power management units, audio chips, application specificintegrated circuits, etc.

To support communications between device 10 and external equipment,control circuitry 20 may communicate using communications circuitry 22.Circuitry 22 may include antennas, wireless transceiver circuitry suchas radio-frequency transceiver circuitry, and other wirelesscommunications circuitry and/or wired communications circuitry.Circuitry 22, which may sometimes be referred to as control circuitryand/or control and communications circuitry, may support bidirectionalwireless communications between device 10 and external equipment over awireless link (e.g., circuitry 22 may include radio-frequencytransceiver circuitry such as wireless local area network transceivercircuitry configured to support communications over a wireless localarea network link, near-field communications transceiver circuitryconfigured to support communications over a near-field communicationslink, cellular transceiver circuitry such as cellular telephonetransceiver circuitry configured to support voice and/or datacommunications over a cellular telephone link, or transceiver circuitryconfigured to support communications over any other suitable wired orwireless communications link). Wireless communications may, for example,be supported over a Bluetooth® link, a WiFi® link, a millimeter wavelink, a cellular telephone link handling voice and/or data, or otherwireless communications link. Device 10 may, if desired, include powercircuits for transmitting and/or receiving wired and/or wireless powerand may include batteries or other energy storage devices. For example,device 10 may include a coil and rectifier to receive wireless powerthat is provided to circuitry in device 10.

Device 10 may include input-output devices such as devices 24.Input-output devices 24 may be used in gathering user input, ingathering information on the environment surrounding the user, and/or inproviding a user with output. During operation, control circuitry 20 mayuse sensors and other input devices in devices 24 to gather input andcan control output devices in devices 24 to provide desired output.

Devices 24 may include one or more displays such as display 14. Display14 may have an array of pixels configured to display images for a user.The display pixels may be formed on a substrate. The substrate may be aflexible substrate (e.g., display 14 may be formed from a flexibledisplay panel) or a rigid substrate. Conductive electrodes for acapacitive touch sensor in display 14 and/or an array of indium tinoxide electrodes or other transparent conductive electrodes overlappingdisplay 14 may be used to form a two-dimensional capacitive touch sensorfor display 14 (e.g., display 14 may be a touch sensitive display). Ifdesired, capacitive touch sensor electrodes may be formed from thin-filmcircuitry on the same substrate as the display pixels. In someconfigurations, a separate two-dimensional touch sensor layer (e.g., apolymer film or other layer with an array of capacitive touch sensorelectrodes) may overlap the array of pixels.

Sensors 16 in input-output devices 24 may include force sensors (e.g.,strain gauges, capacitive force sensors, resistive force sensors, etc.),audio sensors such as microphones, touch and/or proximity sensors suchas capacitive sensors (e.g., a two-dimensional capacitive touch sensorintegrated into display 14, a two-dimensional capacitive touch sensoroverlapping display 14, and/or a touch sensor that forms a button,trackpad, or other input device not associated with a display), andother sensors. If desired, sensors 16 may include optical sensors suchas optical sensors that emit and detect light, ultrasonic sensors,optical touch sensors, optical proximity sensors, and/or other touchsensors and/or proximity sensors, monochromatic and color ambient lightsensors, image sensors, fingerprint sensors, temperature sensors,sensors for measuring three-dimensional non-contact gestures (“airgestures”), pressure sensors, sensors for detecting position,orientation, and/or motion (e.g., accelerometers, magnetic sensors suchas compass sensors, gyroscopes, and/or inertial measurement units thatcontain some or all of these sensors), health sensors, radio-frequencysensors, depth sensors (e.g., structured light sensors and/or depthsensors based on stereo imaging devices), optical sensors such asself-mixing sensors and light detection and ranging (lidar) sensors thatgather time-of-flight measurements, humidity sensors, moisture sensors,gaze tracking sensors, and/or other sensors. In some arrangements,device 10 may use sensors 16 and/or other input-output devices to gatheruser input (e.g., buttons may be used to gather button press input,touch sensors overlapping displays can be used for gathering user touchscreen input, touch pads may be used in gathering touch input,microphones may be used for gathering audio input, accelerometers may beused in monitoring when a finger contacts an input surface and maytherefore be used to gather finger press input, etc.).

If desired, electronic device 10 may include additional components (see,e.g., other devices 18 in input-output devices 24). The additionalcomponents may include haptic output devices, audio output devices suchas speakers, light-emitting devices such as light-emitting diodes orlasers (e.g., thin-film organic light-emitting diodes, crystallinesemiconductor light-emitting diodes, semiconductor lasers such asvertical cavity surface emitting laser diodes, other laser diodes formedfrom crystalline semiconductor dies, etc.), other optical outputdevices, and/or other circuitry for gathering input and/or providingoutput. If desired, light-emitting devices may be used that illuminatetranslucent (hazy) portions of a display cover layer that are configuredto form visual elements such as icons, text, abstract patterns, or otherstructures. Device 10 may also include a battery or other energy storagedevice, connector ports for supporting wired communication withancillary equipment and for receiving wired power, and other circuitry.

A cross-sectional side view of an edge portion of an illustrativedisplay and associated internal components in device 10 is shown in FIG.3. As shown in FIG. 3, device 10 may have housing walls that separate aninterior region such as interior 60 from the exterior region surroundingdevice 10. Device 10 may include electrical components 50 mounted on oneor more printed circuits such as printed circuit 48. Components 50 mayinclude integrated circuits and other devices. Components 50 may formcontrol circuitry 20, communications circuitry 22, input-output devices24 such as sensors 16 and devices 18 (e.g., light-emitting devices suchas light-emitting diodes and lasers), and other circuitry. Components 50may, if desired, include light-emitting components such aslight-emitting device 50′ on printed circuit 48.

As shown in the illustrative configuration of FIG. 3, display 14 may beformed on front face FR of device 10. Display 14 may include a displaylayer such as display layer 42. Display layer 42, which may sometimes bereferred to as a pixel array or display panel, may have an array ofpixels P. Pixels P may be formed from crystalline semiconductorlight-emitting diodes, thin-film organic light-emitting diodes, and/orother pixel structures (e.g., liquid crystal display structures). In theillustrative configuration of FIG. 3, pixels P are thin-film organiclight-emitting diode pixels that are formed from thin-film circuitry onsubstrate 44. Substrate 44 may be a flexible substrate (e.g., a flexiblepolyimide substrate or other flexible polymer layer) or may be a rigidsubstrate. One or more optical films such as optical layer 46 may beincluded in display 14. Layer 46 may be, for example, a circularpolarizer 46 for suppressing ambient light reflections. In theillustrative configuration of FIG. 3, display 14 includes an optionaltwo-dimensional capacitive touch sensor layer 62. If desired, opticallyclear adhesive layer 64 may be interposed between layer 62 and displaycover layer 40 and optically clear adhesive layer 66 may be interposedbetween layer 62 and display layer 42.

The housing for device 10 may include rear housing wall structures suchas a portion of housing 12 forming a rear housing wall on rear face RRof device 10. The housing for device 10 may also include side housingwall structures such as a portion of housing 12 on side E of device 10and may include structures that form display cover layers such asdisplay cover layer 40 on front face FR of device 10. Portions ofdisplay cover layer 40 may, if desired, extend over part or all of edgeE and/or may wrap to the rear of device 10 (as examples). Display coverlayer 40 (which may sometimes be referred to as a transparent housingwall or transparent housing structure) overlaps an array of pixels Pforming an active area AA for display 14. When it is desired to providea user such as viewer 68 who is viewing device 10 in direction 70 withvisual content, control circuitry 20 may display an image in active areaAA of display 14 using pixels P.

An inactive display area is formed along the peripheral border of activearea AA. This border region may contain display driver circuitry andencapsulation structures, but does not contain pixels P for displayingthe active area image. The image displayed in active area AA thereforedoes not extend into the border region that runs along the outermostedge of active area AA.

Supplemental visual information may be provided to viewer 68 usingilluminated visual elements in the display border region. These visualelements may be formed by one or more light-scattering structures indisplay cover layer 40. Display cover layer may have an exterior surfacethat faces the exterior of device 10 and an opposing inner surface thatfaces interior 60. The light-scattering structures may be formed in aninterior portion of display cover layer 40 (e.g., a region that isbetween the outwardly facing and inwardly facing surfaces of displaycover layer 40).

In the example of FIG. 3, display cover layer 40 has illustrativelight-scattering structures 72 and light-scattering structures 74embedded in display cover layer 40. These light-scattering structuresmay be formed by laser marking techniques (sometimes referred to aslaser internal engraving) or other fabrication techniques. With anillustrative arrangement, picosecond pulses of ultraviolet laser lightare focused within the interior of display cover layer 40, therebylocally damaging the glass or other material forming display cover layer40 and creating light-scattering structures that scatter light that isincident on these structures. The laser may be scanned and/or the focusof the laser can be adjusted during laser marking operations, so thatdesired visual elements can be created from the light-scatteringstructures in the interior of display cover layer 40. The outer andinner surfaces of display cover layer 40 can remain undamaged andsmooth.

When illuminated, the light-scattering structures in an interior portionof the display cover layer scatter light and thereby light up forviewing by the user. As a result, the visual elements formed from thelight-scattering structures become visible to the user in the borderregion. In the absence of the light-scattering structures, illuminationwould pass through this interior portion of the display cover layerwithout being scattered and no visual elements would be visible.

Examples of visual elements that can be created include text (e.g., aperson's name, a descriptive label, a trade name, instructions, numbers,alphanumeric strings of letters and/or numbers, text symbols, and/orother alphanumeric character strings), graphics (e.g., icons such astrademarks, descriptive icons that serve as status indicator icons suchas a battery charge state icon, a power on/off icon, a silent-mode icon,a mute icon, a wireless signal strength icon, etc., and/or othergraphical elements), and abstract elements such as continuous anddiscontinuous lines, line segments, rectangular blocks, and/or otherabstract shapes.

Portions of display cover layer 40 and/or other structures in device 10can be provided with opaque masking materials. The opaque maskingmaterials may include black polymer (e.g., polymer containing blackpigment and/or dye) and/or other opaque polymer. In an illustrativeconfiguration, a layer of opaque material such as black ink or otheropaque coating 78 may be formed on a portion of inner surface 79 ofdisplay cover layer 40 in the border region of display 14. This opaquematerial may help hide internal components in interior 60 from view byviewer 68. In scenarios in which light-scattering structures such asillustrative structures 72 and/or 74 visually overlap opaque coating 78,the presence of opaque border structures such as coating 78 may make itdifficult or impossible to view structures 72 and/or 74 in the absenceof illumination from a light-emitting device. This makes the visualelements associated with structures 72 and/or 74 invisible to the nakedeye when light-emitting devices are not producing illumination forstructures 72 and/or 74. Accordingly, control circuitry 20 can makevisual elements associated with light-scatting structures such asstructures 72 and/or 74 in the display border either visible orinvisible by turning on or off corresponding light-emitting devices.

As shown in FIG. 3, for example, light-emitting device 84 may producelight 80 to illuminate light-scattering structure 72 and/orlight-emitting device 50′ may produce light 82 to illuminatelight-scattering structure 74. Light-emitting devices such aslight-emitting device 84 and/or light-emitting device 50′ may producewhite light or light with a non-neutral color (e.g., red light, bluelight, green light, etc.). The light produced may be steady (e.g., afixed intensity) and/or variable (e.g., pulsed or otherwise changing inintensity). If desired, light-emitting device 84 may be adjustable andmay emit light of different intensities and/or colors under control ofcontrol signals from control circuitry 20. Light-emitting device 84 maybe formed on the same substrate as pixels P or on a different substrate.When one or more light-emitting devices such as light-emitting device 84are formed on a common substrate with pixels P such as substrate 44,signal lines formed from thin-film metal traces in the thin-filmcircuitry on substrate 44 may be used in providing control signals tolight-emitting device 84. Light-emitting device 50′ may be mounted onprinted circuit 48 and may be provided with control signals using metaltraces on printed circuit 48.

When it is desired to view a visual element associated with alight-scattering structure embedded in layer 40 in the border region ofdisplay 14, the corresponding light-emitting device in device 10 may beused to generate illumination for that light-scattering structure. Inthe example of FIG. 3, light 82 passes through opening 76 in coating 78.Light 80 may pass through an opening in coating 78 or may, as shown inFIG. 3, pass to light-scatting structure 74 along the inner edge ofcoating 78. If desired, structures in display layer 42 may help directlight 80 away from active area AA, so that light 80 does not visuallyencroach on the image displayed in active area AA.

When it is desired to illuminate light-scattering structures 72 andthereby make a visual element associated with light-scatteringstructures 72 visible to viewer 68, control circuitry 20 can turn onlight-emitting device 84 (e.g., a light-emitting diode or laser) toproduce light 80. Light 80 may illuminate light-scattering structure 72so that viewer 68 may view the visual element formed from light-scattingstructure 72. When it is desired to hide this light-scatting elementfrom view, light-emitting device 84 may be turned off. Because coating78 is located behind light-scattering structure 72 when light-scatteringstructure is being viewed in direction 70 by viewer 68, the visualelement formed from light-scattering structure 72 may be invisible toviewer 68 in the absence of light 80. When it is desired to illuminatelight-scattering structures 74, device 50′ may be turned on to producelight 82. Light-scattering structures 74 may be hidden from view byturning off device 50′.

Any suitable mounting arrangement may be used for the light-emittingdevices that produce illumination for light-scattering structures indisplay cover layer 40. In the example of FIG. 3, light-emitting device50′ is mounted on printed circuit 48 and is located in the border regionof display 14 (e.g., light-emitting device 50′ is not overlapped byactive area AA). If desired, light-emitting device 50′ may be formedunder active area AA (e.g., behind active area AA when viewed indirection 70). In this type of arrangement, light-emitting device 50′may be located near to the edge of device 10 so that light 82 fromlight-emitting device 50′ passes through opening 76 in coating 78 andilluminates light-scattering structure 74.

If desired, a light-emitting device may be mounted on top of a displaylayer. As shown in FIG. 4, for example, display layer 42 may include anarray of pixels P configured to display an image. No pixels P fordisplaying the image are present in inactive border region 92. Pixels Pmay be thin-film organic light-emitting diode pixels or other pixels. Ifdesired, light-emitting device 90 (e.g., a light-emitting diode die, alaser diode die, or other light-emitting component) may be mounted(e.g., using solder, conductive adhesive, etc.) to layer 42 (e.g., tometal traces or other conductive signal paths in layer 42). With thistype of arrangement, thin-film circuitry (e.g., interconnect pathsformed form metal traces in border region 92 of display layer 42) may beused to help route signals to light-emitting device 90. Duringoperation, light-emitting device 90 may provide light that illuminates alight-scattering structure in display cover layer 40 (e.g., through anopaque coating opening such as opening 76 of FIG. 3).

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional side view of display layer 42 in anillustrative configuration in which light-emitting device 84 is formedfrom a portion of display layer 42. For example, pixels P of displaylayer 42 of FIG. 5 may be light-emitting diode pixels such as thin-filmorganic light-emitting diode pixels or pixels with light-emitting diodesformed from crystalline semiconductor dies. Light-emitting device 84 maybe formed from a light-emitting structure of the same type as pixels P,but may be located in border region 92. For example, if pixels P areformed from organic light-emitting diodes, light-emitting device 84 maybe formed from an organic light-emitting diode and may be controlledusing thin-film circuitry on display layer 42. If pixels P are formedfrom crystalline semiconductor dies, light-emitting device 84 may alsobe formed from a crystalline semiconductor die (as an example). As shownin FIG. 5, device 84 may be separated from the outermost edge of pixelsP in active area AA by a gap (e.g., a gap of at least two or more pixelsin width or other suitable width).

Light-scattering structures may be illuminated along some or all ofborder 92. Border 92 may extend along one or more edges of display 14.Border 92 may, for example, have four segments running along fourrespective peripheral edges of device 10 (e.g., border 92 may form arectangular ring about active area AA). In the example of FIG. 6,light-scattering structure 96 is formed in a middle portion of a segmentof border 92 that runs along one of the edges of device 10 (e.g., theright-hand edge, lower edge, etc.). Light-scattering structure 62 mayform text, graphics (e.g., status indicator icons, logos, trademarks,tradenames, symbols, etc.), abstract patterns (e.g., squares, circles,lines, wavy lines, and/or other abstract shapes), and/or other suitablevisible elements. In the example of FIG. 7, light-scattering structures98 run along multiple edges (or the entire periphery of device 10) andare separated by respective areas 100 that are free of light-scatteringstructures 98. Each of light-scattering structures 98 may, if desired,be illuminated by a separate individually controlled light-emittingdevice (e.g., to implement chasing light effects, flashing lights,etc.). Light-scattering structures 98 may be abstract shapes, text,graphics, or other suitable content.

FIG. 8 shows how a light-scattering structure (structure 102) may, ifdesired, run along the entire periphery of device 10 (e.g., border 92may form a ring around active area AA). Light-scattering structure 102may be illuminated by one or more light-emitting devices.

In some configurations, light-scattering structures form visual elementsthat are illuminated to provide labeling (e.g., text labeling, trademarklabeling, brand name labeling, etc.). In other configurations, visualelements formed from light-scattering structures may form an abstractshape and can be illuminated to serve as a visual notification (e.g., byflashing or illuminating with a particular color) and/or decorativetrim.

Visual elements may be illuminated in coordination with content inactive area AA. As an example, an image in active area AA may contain avisual item that moves from the center of active area AA to a locationwhere the visual item contacts the outer edge of active area AA. Whenthe visual item contacts this edge, a ring-shaped border surroundingactive area AA may be illuminated to serve as visual feedback (e.g., alight-scattering structure such as structure 102 of FIG. 8 may beilluminated whenever a moving visual item touches the outer edge ofactive area AA).

Visual elements formed from light-scattering structures may beilluminated in response to changes in device operating conditions. Forexample, the illumination for a light-scattering structure may beadjusted in response to expiration of a timer, determination that asensor reading has exceeded a predetermined threshold, receipt of userinput, receipt of a wireless message or incoming telephone call,determination that a particular geographic location has been reached bydevice 10, and/or in response to satisfaction of criteria associatedwith one or more other operating conditions. Criteria for illuminatingvisual elements may be provided to device 10 during manufacturing and/ormay be user-defined settings. In some arrangements, visual elements maybe illuminated to provide a user with assistance in using device 10. Forexample, if device 10 is waiting for a user to supply input with abutton, a visual element such as text stating “press the button tostart” or a flashing green icon may be displayed by using a light-emitting device to supply illumination to a light-scattering structure.In general, visual elements in border 92 may be used for any suitablefunction (e.g., to supply visual feedback, decoration, a notification,instructions, labeling, etc.).

Device 10 may be operated in a system that uses personally identifiableinformation. It is well understood that the use of personallyidentifiable information should follow privacy policies and practicesthat are generally recognized as meeting or exceeding industry orgovernmental requirements for maintaining the privacy of users. Inparticular, personally identifiable information data should be managedand handled so as to minimize risks of unintentional or unauthorizedaccess or use, and the nature of authorized use should be clearlyindicated to users.

The foregoing is merely illustrative and various modifications can bemade to the described embodiments. The foregoing embodiments may beimplemented individually or in any combination.

What is claimed is:
 1. An electronic device, comprising: an array ofpixels having an outermost edge; a border region adjacent to theoutermost edge; a display cover layer having a first portion thatoverlaps the array of pixels and a second portion that overlaps theborder region, wherein the display cover layer includes alight-scattering structure that is embedded within the second portion ofthe display cover layer; and a light-emitting device that is configuredto produce light that illuminates the light-scattering structure.
 2. Theelectronic device defined in claim 1, wherein the array of pixels andthe light-emitting device are formed on a shared substrate.
 3. Theelectronic device defined in claim 2, wherein the light-emitting deviceis one of the pixels in the array of pixels.
 4. The electronic devicedefined in claim 1, wherein the array of pixels are formed on a firstsubstrate and the light-emitting device is formed on a second substratethat is separate from the first substrate.
 5. The electronic devicedefined in claim 1, wherein the light-scattering structure is configuredto form a visual element selected from the group consisting of: analphanumeric character and an icon.
 6. The electronic device defined inclaim 1, wherein the light-scattering structure is configured to form anabstract pattern.
 7. The electronic device defined in claim 1, furthercomprising control circuitry, wherein the control circuitry isconfigured to display content on the array of pixels in coordinationwith controlling the light-emitting device.
 8. The electronic devicedefined in claim 1, further comprising control circuitry, wherein thecontrol circuitry is configured to turn on the light-emitting device toproduce a visual notification.
 9. The electronic device defined in claim1, further comprising: a housing wall coupled to the display coverlayer; a wristband coupled to the housing wall; and wireless transceivercircuitry configured to transmit and receive wireless signals.
 10. Theelectronic device defined in claim 9, wherein the light-emitting devicecomprises a device selected from the group consisting of: alight-emitting diode, a laser diode, and a crystalline semiconductordie.
 11. An electronic device, comprising: a housing; a display in thehousing; and a display cover layer coupled to the housing, wherein thedisplay cover layer overlaps the display, the display cover layer hasopposing inner and outer surfaces, and a light-scattering structure isembedded within the display cover layer between the inner and outersurfaces.
 12. The electronic device defined in claim 11, wherein thelight-scattering structure is configured to be illuminated by a lightsource.
 13. The electronic device defined in claim 12, wherein thedisplay comprises an array of pixels, and the light source is adjacentto the array of pixels.
 14. The electronic device defined in claim 12,wherein the light-scattering structure comprises a laser-marked interiorportion of the display cover layer.
 15. The electronic device defined inclaim 14, wherein the light source is a light-emitting diode configuredto emit light that is scattered by the laser-marked interior portion.16. The electronic device defined in claim 11, further comprising awristband coupled to the housing.
 17. The electronic device defined inclaim 11, wherein the display comprises an active area and an inactivearea, and the light-scattering structure overlaps the inactive area. 18.The electronic device defined in claim 17, wherein the light-scatteringstructure surrounds the active area.
 19. The electronic device definedin claim 17, wherein the light-scattering structure is one of aplurality of light-scattering structures that are formed in a ringaround the active area.
 20. An electronic device, comprising: a housing;an array of pixels in the housing configured to display an image; adisplay cover layer coupled to the housing, wherein the display coverlayer has a first portion that overlaps the array of pixels and a secondportion that overlaps a region adjacent to the array of pixels, and thedisplay cover layer comprises an embedded light-scattering structure inthe second portion; and a light-emitting device configured to producelight that illuminates the light-scattering structure.